Concrete building and concrete building construction



-H 5,8088. CONCRETE BUILDING AND CONCRETE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED IUNE3. I918.

m 5 s Z ma I M IT. I m I .mfl 1 I K. 3: w m z H. E. Ross.

CONCRETE BUILDING AND CONCRETE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

- APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3. 1918.

1,355,572. Patented 00t.12,1920.

2 sums-4mm 2. .Z/ .5 R x; J 6? if Z a/Vania),

fiass,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT ERNEST ROSS, OF SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA; v

CONCRETE BUILDING- AND CONCRETE BUILDING-CONSTRUCTION].

Specification of Letters Patent. fiatented 0c]; 12, 1920 Application filed June 3, 1918. Serial No. 237,979.

T 0 all whom it may ooncem: Be it known that I, HERBERT ERNEST Ross, subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Equitable'Build-. ings, 350 George street, Sydney, New South Vales, Australia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Concrete Buildings and Concrete Building Construction, of which the following is a' specification.

This invention relates to the construction of domestic houses and other buildings in concrete. and it has beendevised with the object of reducing such construction to a unit system inwhich walls are built of standarized interchangeable stock slabs and angles which are secured toget-herby metal ties and dowels; whereby maximum econolny in cost and rapidity in erection are assured.

Necessarily the design and the measurements of the building must be such that the wall dimensions will conform to the stock dimensions of the slabs and angles, in order that the whole structure may be completed with unbroken units.

The present invention is distinguished from prior attempts to evolve a stock unit system of concrete piece construction, in the facts that the joints are all vertical grooved joints adapted to be filled with liquid grout ing which solidifies in setting and that the structure does not contain any horizontal joints. that the system is adapted for rectangular single story buildings only; that in addition to ordinary reinforcements the units are tied and stiffened laterally byhorizontal bolts threaded through cored holes in the heads and bases of the slabs and angles. are held in alinement at the vertical joints by slip socket dowels. and that the string courses, window and 'door and ventilator openings. architraves. friezes. sills. skirtings. and joint landings are integral with the unit slabs, and are produced in the slab molding operation. so that when the units which make up. a wall or inclose an apartment are erected and their vertical. joints are filled, the wall structure is complete and finishing tradework is obviated.

and a thickness of two inches or more, depending on the required style and solidity .of the structure to be erected. These units are molded with ventilator apertures external plinths and friezes, string courses, and

internal skirtings. picture rails, friezes and cornice molds, and-certaln of them with window and door openings, the margins of which are formed with appropriate reveals contained within molded architraves and integral, external and internal sills. steps and nosings'. ,Any recognized system of bar.

bolts are threaded through tube Lined cored holes near the footings and the heads of the unit slabs and are secured-by end nuts which are secreted by plastering over or are covered with cement. F our-such tube holes are cored in bases and heads respectively of the several slabs and angles. Two of these are for bolts running fore and aft of the building. and two, located in a different horizontal plane, for bolts running transversely of the building; the crossing tie bolts do not therefore foul each other. The cored tie bolt holes are contained in the enlarged base and head of the unitsand are respectively located outward of the planes of the wall surfaces. so as thereby to utilize their tensile I strength to maxlmum advantage for resisting forces operating to distort the wall laterally. ment is insured by slip dowels set in sockets. and the roof plate is secured to studs screwed into tapped sockets whlch are set at a midway position in the heads of the slabs and angles. Hinge sockets are also cast into the concrete slabs at uniform centerings in door and window rabbets.

In the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a perspective view of portion of two walls of a house including a corner angle. showing window, door and ventilator openings Each unit is a monolithic slab of-rein- \with architraves. sills. skirtings. picture forced or plain concrete molded and set in a metal mold, having a length equal to the full height of the standard wall from footing to roof plate seating, a width of the adopted unitmeasurement-namely, three feet to four feet six inches, more or less,

mold, cornice, and joist landings. also tie bolts, socketed dowels and 'fixed hinge leaves: Fig. :2 is an end elevation throughthe ,lower part of one of the slabs showing joist footings. external plinth, skirting. vertical groutinggrooves, tle rods, and dowels;

Intermediate of the tie bolts a-lineig. 3 is an end elevation, broken, showing a divisional wall finished similarly on either "side; Fig. 4 is a vertical section through an interior wall at a doorway, showing only the lower part thereof; Fig. 5 is a fragment section through the cornice or to meet all the necessities arising in building practice for constructing L, T and cross junctions and straight run walls; Fig. 18 is a perspective view of an embedded hinge member for hanging a door or casement 4 sash to which the counter part hinge leaf is pinned; Fig. 19 is a perspective .view of one of the embedded sockets in which the dowels are inserted. Thi's'view shows ex ternal rings formed on the bolt and dowel sockets by which said sockets are firmly locked in.the concrete.

-Fig. 1 serves to illustrate the system of construction which the invention embodies. Each wall unit or element is a single flat slab 23, or angle slab 58 extending from a concrete or brick footing 20 to the roofplate, which is to be bolted down above the head capping or cornice 21 by means of bolts inserted in sockets 22, one such socket being located centrally in the top of each slab 23. The socket construction will be understood, on reference to Fig. 19

the outer part of the socket being grooved, ribbed or otherwise irregularly formed so as to be locked in the concrete and thus 'provide a' secure anchorage for the holding down bolt or stud. All the slabs are made of precisely uniform thickness and height: certainof them are formed with door openings such as 24 finished with reveals 25. architraves 26, and metal hinge members 27. At he foot, the architraves terminate .in rectangular plinths 28 'to facilitate fit-.

ting of the flooring boards. Preferably the plinth faces-are flush with the faces of the skirtings 29. A cover mold 30 is nailed down to the edge of the flooring 31 to make a close joint at the foot of the skirtings and architrave plinths. Picture molds such as 33, and cornices such as 34 are cast integral on the slabs; these come into alinement and form continuous members when the slabs are erected. In all or some of the plane slabs a ventilator opening such for instance as 36 is formed: certain other slabs are these openings being completed with rabbets 38, archtraves 39, and interior and exterior sills 40 also hinge members 41 to carry casement sashes. The window and door openings may be lined with j 'ambs or frames but it is intended that this accessory construction be dispensed with and the door or window set directly into the-concrete finish. The foot of each slab is returned inwardly as shown at 42 to form 'a shaft or landing for the flooring joists 43, Divisional wall units are identical on their two sides as shown clearly in Fig. 3; external wall units are formed with one exterior face and one interibr face, as shown in Fig. 2. Through the base portions 42 of the slabs and angle slabs four contiffuous holes 44 are" cored. .These holes accommodate through tie bolts 45. Two similar ranges of holes 55 are cored through the heads of the slabs and angle slabs. In practice the holes 44 and 55 are cased with light liner tubes which serve as cores in the molding of I the slab and are permitted to remain in it when set. Tie bolts 45 and-56 are passed through from end to end of each run of wall and nuts as shown at 46 Fig. 2 are screwed on their ends, to draw up and brace the units together. Said nutsmay be.coun"-' 'ter sunk or covered over with 'cement or other finish.

The upper and lower tie -bolt holesgare arranged 1n two courses. as clearly seen 1n Fig.3; one of these courses, say the upper.

is always used for bolts runningfore and aft of the building and the other one for bolts running transverse of the building.

Fouling the fore and aft tie bolts with transverse tie bolts is thus impossible.

termediately of its length (height) each slab is armed with one or more dowel sockets 48.

these sockets being adapted to receive loose dowel pins 49. As each slab is placed into position, the dowel pins 49 are set so that they hold adjacentslabs in alinement. therewith the corner portion of the structureshown in Fig. 1. These angles provide every sectlon required for wall angles. crosses and unctions, each arm of the angle constituting a continuation of the slab section. Fore and aft transverse tie bolts are used to se-' cure the tops of the slabs as shown in Fig. 1 in the samemanner as the tie bolts used to secure the base portions of same as shown in the same figure. In Figs. 1, 6 and 11 the ordinary slab reinforcement is indicated It will be noted that just as all the slabs are of equal width, so the arms of all the angles are equal. When therefore an apart ment is inclosed with walls constructed of these slabs and angles its form is necessarily rectangular.

In this system of construction skilled labor may be almost wholly dispensed with. Appropriate footings being first put down, the slabs previously selected from stock to accord with the design, are placed in position, doweled together, secured by through bolts, and the vertical joints finally grouted and finished off on the faces. T he complete wall construction of a cottage or one-story building is thus erected in the course of a few hours with correctly positioned landings forv flooring joists and means for bolting down the roof plates.

In molding the slabs, polished metal molds are used with fixed locating paps to carry the bolt and staple sockets during the molding operation. The molds are constructed in such a way that they may be drawn apart to permit removal of the slabs therefrom, such removal being efi'ected when the concrete has become sufficiently set, the slabs being subsequently set aside for the seasoning. The tube liners for the cored holes H are similarly carried by paps in the molds, so that when the slabs are withdrawn, said tubes remain in the slabs and insure clearance for the tie bolts so that said bolts may be passed freely through them. As the slabs are cast in metal molds and allowed to set therein, they are produced in uniform size, so'that they are readily interchangeable, each slab being thus adapted to aline exactly with every other slab or angle. The vertical joints are completed by pouring liquid cement through the juxtaposed half grooves 51 to key and lute the abutting edge faces, but for this purpose pitch or other substances may be used instead of liquid cement. Any defects in the joints due to chipping of the arrises may be readily remedied by trowel finishing.

It is quite practicable with this system of construction, given an adequate range of slabs and angles available, to erect a complete wall structure of a building in the course of a few hours. .A fine finish is obtained for both sides of the slabs and angles, the molding of same in metal forms to render a building habitable. For the purpose of-insuring waterproof construction, the concrete may be molded under pressure in the forms, a surface layer of a waterproof composition or material being first set in the form ,to provide the external face, which in the molding operation becomes homogeneously attached to the substances which form the hearting and interior surfaces of the slab or angle.

lVhat' I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A wall construction comprising a plurality of full length molded cementitious unit building slabs arranged in abutting and alining relation with each other, each slab including a main panel portion and a cap head and base portion integral therewith but of a greater thickness than the panel portion. and removable tensile tie rods arranged through the cap head and base portions of the slab parallel with but away from the neutral axis of the main panel portions of the slabs and fastened so that the rods accommodate the tensional Stl'tSSQS while the cementitious material accommodates the compression stresses.

2. A wall construction comprising av plurality of full length molded cementitious unit building slabs arranged in abutting relation with each other, each slab including a main panel portion, a cap head and a base portion, the cap head and the base portion of each slab being integral with the panel portion but of a greater thickness than the panel and provided with longitudinally cored holes positioned so as to be outside of the plane of the surfaces of the panel portions and tie rods arranged through the holes and having their ends fastened so as to reinforce the slabs and to maintain them in proper relation in addition to augmenting the transverse stability of the wall.

3. A wall construction as claimed in claim.

2 wherein the cored holes are disposed in two courses and accommodate respectively fore and aft tie bolts and transverse tie bolts.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT ERNEST ROSS.

Vitnesses W. J. HUMrHnEYs, H. B. CAMPBELL. 

